The predominant image of old-time musicand
dance remains an overwhelmingly, sometimes exclusively,
white one. When African Americans do enter into this
picture, they are typically represented under a “roots” framework—which
highlights their long-ago contributions to contemporary
white traditions—or as curious anomalies. In this
article, we’ll look at the work of artists like
Stovepipe No 1., Andrew and Jim Baxter, and Henry Thomas.
By exploring the similarities between black and white
traditions—and the square dance provides one excellent
entry point—we can start to decipher the differences
that shared traditions reveal, whether across racial,
geographic, generational, or other cultural “lines.” Despite
the limited development of some of the calls I have described,
their existence is crucially relevant to the discussion
of square dance calls of the 78 era. Like the work of
Freeny’s Barn Dance Band, the Williamson Brothers
and Curry, the West Virginia Mountaineers, and other
white groups, the recordings and careers of black string
band artists like the Baxter Brothers, Stovepipe No.
1, and Henry Thomas may help us better understand the
interactions of southern music, dance, and recording.

The predominant
image of old-time musicand dance remains
an overwhelmingly, sometimes exclusively, white one.
When African Americans do enter into this picture, they
are typically represented under a “roots” framework—which
highlights their long-ago contributions to contemporary
white traditions—or as curious anomalies. In this
article, we’ll look at the work of artists like
Stovepipe No 1., Andrew and Jim Baxter, and Henry Thomas.
By exploring the similarities between black and white
traditions—and the square dance provides one excellent
entry point—we can start to decipher the differences
that shared traditions reveal, whether across racial,
geographic, generational, or other cultural “lines.” Despite
the limited development of some of the calls I have described,
their existence is crucially relevant to the discussion
of square dance calls of the 78 era. Like the work of
Freeny’s Barn Dance Band, the Williamson Brothers
and Curry, the West Virginia Mountaineers, and other
white groups, the recordings and careers of black string
band artists like the Baxter Brothers, Stovepipe No.
1, and Henry Thomas may help us better understand the
interactions of southern music, dance, and recording.